by H. T. Night
I looked at Lena and I knew that this visual was hard for her to handle. “I wish you didn’t have to see this, but this what I signed on for.”
“Even still, you have a family now. We don’t have to do this. We can go away and leave and be a family. We can leave this all here!”
“I wouldn’t even have our family if I didn’t have this calling in my life. Neither would you. I can’t turn my back on it now. I know this is hard, but it is what is asked of me.”
“Look at you. Your face looks like you went a thousand rounds with Mike Tyson... and lost. Your hands and arms are so bruised and ugly that I can’t even look at them. The doctor thinks you might not be able to walk after what Krull did to your feet!”
“Come here, sweetie,” I said, keeping my cool in front of her. Lena was becoming hysterical. One of us in panic mode was enough. With tears dripping from her eyes, Lena crawled into bed and laid next to me. “I know I’m pretty hideous-looking, but I’m going to heal. The last time I checked. I don’t even have to walk if I don’t want to. I’ll fly down the aisle if I have to when we get married.”
“I’m the one who is going to walk down the aisle, not you. You can’t take that from me, too.” Lena just looked at me in disbelief. Her comment was half teasing, but her tone was the this: she was fed up and done with my Chosen One duties.
“Well, I have to get to the front of the wedding ceremony somehow.”
“How will you stand there?” Lena asked.
“I’ll float like Casper, the friendly ghost.”
“I’m being serious, Josiah.”
“Lena, if you think for one second that I’m going to allow myself to be crippled, you know me better than that. I’m going to get better. We will do this together.”
Lena was quiet. “I don’t know.”
“I need you, sweetie. I need you now more than ever.”
“I just want you, Josiah. When is the harmony that you keep talking about going to happen?”
“When Krull is defeated.” I paused. “Can I ask you something? How did I get here?”
Lena sighed and said, “They told me that Atticai delivered you to Tommy!”
“Someone say my name?” Tommy bellowed from right outside the room. Tommy entered my bedroom and smiled when he saw that I was sitting up. “Wow, sitting up and everything. How are you feeling?”
“Sore all over,” I said.
“I bet. Well, why don’t you heal yourself and we can go kick Krull’s ass.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why not?” Tommy looked at me, perplexed.
“It doesn’t work that way. For whatever reason, I can’t heal Lena or myself. Only the Triat can heal me.”
“Then let’s pray or do whatever spiritual crap we have to do to heal you. You look like Rocky Balboa at the end of every Rocky film.”
“Rocky 2 was the best,” I said.
“I’m a Rocky 4 man myself, but seriously, you look awful, bro.” Tommy walked over to me and knelt down next to my bed.
“Thanks,” I said. “I should have combed my hair before you came in here. Help me stand up. I want to see if I can walk.”
“You sure?” Tommy asked.
“I’m sure.”
“Josiah, you had metal spikes that were completely in your shins, ankles, and feet!” Lena said to me. “Don’t push yourself too soon.”
“I want to try.” I looked at both Lena and Tommy and gave them a look as if to say, “Either help me, or I’m going to get up myself.”
Tommy reluctantly looked at Lena for her approval.
“Don’t look at me, Tommy,” Lena said. “You know your best friend is a stubborn mule.”
“But even stubborn mules have cartilage in the legs and feet that make it so they can walk.”
Tommy pulled the covers off my body. I was naked from the waist down. Tommy glanced at my package and said. “Wow, a mini-chubby; it’s good to know I still get you excited.”
“No mini-chubby, bro,” I said. “That’s me, soft.”
“Well done. Let’s put some shorts on this pool stick before one of us gets poked in the eye by this hog!” Tommy proclaimed.
Lena opened my drawer and pulled out a pair of black basketball shorts. She handed them to me, and I slipped them on. I was afraid to look at my feet and hands, but decided that this was the time to do so. From my knees down to my toes, my legs were cut up and looked like a purple mess. My hands and wrists looked the same. “All right, help me up,” I said.
“You want to get another guy in here?” Tommy asked.
“Sure,” I said sarcastically. “I just thought you were man enough to do it yourself.” I know that was all I had to say. Tommy was a machismo-driven dog that was as easy to manipulate as a trained Labrador.
Tommy came over to me and helped me put my legs over my bed. He lifted me up, and I put some weight on my feet.
Damn! That fucking hurts! But I still continued. The pain I received when Krull was torturing me was worse than this could ever be. So, I pressed on through it. I was able to put a little weight on my feet at first. Then, I was able to put all my weight on it. Tommy stepped aside held me up with one hand.
“You okay, Josiah?” Tommy asked.
“I’m okay.” I looked over at Lena and she had a look of despair on her face.
“Be careful, Josiah. Don’t make your injuries worse,” Lena said.
I wanted to show Tommy, but mostly Lena, that I could do this on my own. “Let go of me, Tommy. I want to stand on my own.”
Tommy let go of me, and I stood there. I kept my balance for a good 30 seconds. “I’m going to try to take a step.” I lifted my foot up and stepped forward. The pain was excruciating, but I needed to do it. It took all my strength to take three steps, but I did it. “Okay, I’m done.” Tommy sat me back on my bed. “Okay, that was pitiful,” I said.
“Actually, you did a lot better than I thought you would,” Lena said.
“You really did, Josiah,” Tommy agreed. “The doctor told us he doubted you’d be able to walk for months.”
“Well, the doctor has no idea who the hell I am,” I said proudly.
“That’s for sure,” Tommy said, smiling at me.
I lay back and told Tommy and Lena that I needed rest.
Day one was on the books, as far as recovery was concerned. From here on out, my focus would be on Krull. That would be my motivation. I needed to keep things in perspective, but he would pay for this.
Chapter Twenty-seven
The next five weeks were hell.
In my heart, I knew I could probably just go to Amsterdam and be healed by my son, Jason. I don’t know why, but I didn’t want to take the easy way out. Physical attributes had come so easily to me over the past two years. It had been an unfair playing field in comparison to everyone else and me. I wanted to recover on my own terms. My scars would be a constant reminder of what I needed to go through to come out on the other side.
Each day, my condition improved. Each day, I was able to do more. When all else failed, I was able to sweep my legs from under me and fly. I even resisted doing that.
My men needed to see my transformation. Seeing me so jacked up definitely hurt the morale of my troops. I wanted to recover for them. I wanted them to see that, no matter what Krull did to us, we could overcome. My army had grown close to 700 men. Some of Atticai’s guys had made their way over to us and joined the cause. As well, we had been getting random Mani showing up. Each man from here on out went through my test where I asked them the three questions. So far, no one else failed my loyalty test. I couldn’t be too careful, however.
One of the training regimens that I tried to do each day was wind sprints. It was a fantastic way to gauge my progress. I had designated with traffic cones, a fifty-yard sprint for the exercise. Five weeks ago, I had been barely able to walk the fifty-yards. Now, I was able to run it at 85 percent of my former maximum speed.
Tommy had been phenomenal as my trainer. H
e had gotten me back in amazing shape. We worked out with weights in the morning inside the bunker gym, and we practiced combat at night with the troops.
What had happened to me that night would haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life. Somehow, I had survived it. Somehow, I had come out ahead on the other side. Lena had been amazing through my recovery. She was a bit aggravating at first. Who could blame her? Her man was delivered to his home looking like roadkill.
Lena and I Skyped with Linda every day, so we could see our kids on our computer. I decided to stop doing that, as I was afraid if ‘good’ was able to see my life played out, then the likelihood was that evil could see it, too. And that evil was Krull. I didn’t want to give away the whereabouts about the location of my children.
No matter how much I’d come out on the other side of this tragedy that had happened, one thing was clear to me. Atticai had saved my life. Just saying that out loud was an amazing series of words: Atticai saved Josiah Reign’s life.
I wasn’t sure how he knew where I was when Helen and Tommy couldn’t hear me. That didn’t concern me, however. What concerned me was why he did it. If he knew I was captured by Krull, and the likelihood was that Krull was going to kill me, then Atticai would be the next in line to lead the Mani people. But, he saved me anyway. Why?
I needed to know why. It was time to visit Atticai one more time before we went to battle against Krull. I promised Lena that I wouldn’t leave her, so I planned to bring her with me.
I was given word that Atticai was spending more time at his hot spot of the Flatlands lately, with Donya.
It was time for me to go there and say thank you to him.
I was getting ready to go. I put on a black shirt. With my black jeans, I slipped on my black leather jacket with my black Dr. Martens boots. It was my go-to vampire outfit.
Lena came into the bathroom where I was getting ready.
“Oh no. Not again, Josiah! Where are you off to?”
“Flatlands.”
“You’re not going alone, are you?” Lena looked at me in the way a concerned girlfriend would after her boyfriend got his ass handed to him.
“No, I’m not going alone. You’re going with me.”
“I am?”
“Yep, so put on some warm clothes because it’s time for me to get my swagger back. I can’t live in anonymity forever.”
“Josiah, let’s take Tommy with us.” Lena looked at me, concerned. I didn’t like that she didn’t think I could handle things myself.
“Tommy would slow us down,” I said. “Plus, I am more than capable of protecting us.”
“I’m just worried because of what happened last time.”
“Look Lena, Krull is about vengeance, but mainly, he is about recruitment. He thinks he fucked me up for a very long time. He thinks it will take years for me to bounce back. He’s not worried about me at the present moment. One thing The Deity explained to me is that I’m just an obstacle. I’m not the end result. He came to me that night because he wanted me to fight alongside him. He jacked me up pretty good and I doubt I’m on his radar, for the time being.”
“Look, if you think Tommy will slow us down because he is grounded as a non-flyer, then let’s take Hector or even Yari.”
“Lena, did you just hear what I said? We’ll be fine.” I was getting perturbed with the lack of confidence that my fiancée had in me.
Lena stared at me and shook her head. “Why do you want to go there anyway?”
“You know why.”
Lena continued to shake her head. “He won’t come. I know him, Josiah. He did you a solid payback because you saved Donya. In his mind, you’re even.”
“Maybe so, but I still need to thank him.”
“I think you’re setting yourself up for disappointment if you think you want a friendship with Atticai.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re a romantic to the core. You have some illusion that you’re going to go to Atticai and he’s going to embrace you and two of you are going to be besties. You know that’s not his way. He’ll flip it and make you feel stupid for even coming to him.”
“That might be what he’ll do, but I’m still going to thank him. You don’t have to give me your approval or blessing to go. Hell, you don’t even have to come. I can stick you in Tommy’s room, so the big bad wolf can protect you.”
“I’m going to go with you. You think you are a one-man army, and maybe you are to some extent. I just—”
“I love you, Lena,” I said, cutting her off. “I know you’re worried about me, but I need to press forward. I need to be proactive. Atticai can only help the cause. I need to at least try.”
Lena hugged me around my waist. “You are so stubborn.”
“I know I am. Trust me. I don’t have illusions of Atticai grandeur. I know his M.O. I do, however, need closure. I need to say thank you to him. He risked his life to save mine. Then I can make my next move.”
“What is your next move?”
“For now, Lena, I’m keeping it to myself. I’m going to reveal to our troops extremely soon what we’re going to do. I need to tie up a couple of loose ends first.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
Lena and I had transitioned as we both leaped out of the trap door in my original room.
It took about ten minutes to get to Flatlands, flying at a respectable speed. We flew over the top of Flatlands gravel parking lot. We circled, looking down for Atticai. There were multiple bonfires with vampires drinking and partying. It was a typical night at this place. These Mani didn’t have a worry in the world. It must be nice. These were Atticai’s people, and I was always mildly welcome here. I was okay with that.
Lena and I dropped our flight elevation and landed on the rocks. This location of the world has had a lot of history for me, and I knew that tonight would be no different.
Atticai was sitting with Donya around the main fire that was in the middle of Flatlands.
I stepped forward, holding Lena’s hand and some Mani noticed that we were here. We received a couple of approving nods, but mainly we were just getting stares because no one was sure why we were here. Personally, I didn’t need their acceptance. By this point, I didn’t need anyone’s approval. For Lena’s sake, I wanted her to feel comfortable. She used to come here with Atticai. She was Atticai’s girl for years, and now she was my fiancée. I knew she felt a little bit odd about that. But, we were here for a reason. I needed to speak to their leader.
Atticai looked up and saw me and grinned. “No limp. I’m impressed,” he said, as I walked up to him, still holding Lena’s hand. Atticai took Lena in and then smiled. “You look as lovely as ever.”
“Thank you,” Lena said as shyly as I have seen her in a while. I guess even still, Atticai had that effect on her.
Donya stood up and walked over to us and gave each of us a hug. She had dyed her hair, so that it was jet black, getting rid of any gray, and it made her look twenty years younger. It was still painfully obvious she was the oldest person here, as far as physical age, but she looked good. “You look well, Josiah. Atticai told me what happened. I was so worried about you.” Donya reaching out to me was very genuine and warm. It gave me comfort that she cared so deeply for my welfare.
“What brings you two to these parts?” Atticai asked. Atticai seemed normal. Donya obviously was doing wonders for the guy’s personality.
“I came to see you,” I said. “I wanted to thank you.”
“No need for that,” Atticai replied.
“Yeah, there is,” I continued. “You didn’t have to do it. You risked your life and I am eternally grateful.”
Atticai stared deeply at my face. I still had bad scars. All of my bruises hadn’t healed. Just for a moment, I saw a touch of empathy in his eyes. For the most part, however, his face was expressionless. He had 101 things going on in his head. I could tell that he wasn’t fully on board with me showing up on his turf. He was accommodating me, and we owed each other that co
urtesy, after all we had been through. “Is that all?” he asked.
“Yeah, I guess it is,” I said.
“You’re not going to make any more plays for me to join your cause?”
“You already have,” I said, smiling at him. “By saving me, you threw yourself right smack in the middle of it. You waged war on Krull, the second you entered his lair and helped me.”
Atticai smiled. “I know that. I think we had this conversation once before: ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’”
I smiled back, pleased that he had remembered. “Why did you do it, Atticai?”
“Because Krull and I have a history that is much bigger than any of this.”
“So, what are you saying?” I asked.
“I’m saying, I’m doing this on my terms. I want Krull dead. Plain and simple. You can have all the other accolades: the title, the people, the life free of the pain and the God-forsaken harmony. I don’t want any of that. Krull needs to pay for what he did to me many years ago.”
“What did he do exactly?” I asked.
“I don’t need to relive the horrific memory by discussing it. My life will come full circle, the second that I see that motherfucker breathe his last breath of air.”
Holy crap! Atticai is on board. “So, what are you proposing, Atticai?”
“I want Krull dead, and I want to be the one who does it. But I don’t want to be part of your army. Think of me as a hired assassin. When everything goes down, I’ll be there. The only fight I have is with him. You do whatever you need to do to defeat his army, but you leave Krull for me.”
I looked at Atticai and just slowly nodded my head. I thought about what he was asking. I wanted Krull dead probably more than he did, after what Krull did to me. But, I also wanted Atticai on my side. So, if this was the only way he’d commit to fighting alongside me, then I’d let him have Krull.
“Done,” I said.
Atticai nodded. “You let me know when you’re ready to do that plan of yours.”
I looked at Atticai, puzzled. How did he know I had a plan? “Atticai,” I asked. “I have one more question for you. How did you know where Krull was keeping me?”
